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A VERY QUACKY CHRISTMAS By Frances Watts

Illustrated by Ann James

BOOK SUMMARY

We wish you a quacky Christmas …’

Samantha Duck is getting ready for Christmas. ‘I’m

going to give presents to animals all over the world!’

Her friend Sebastian tells her not to bother.

‘Christmas is not for animals,’ he says.

But with the help of her farmyard friends, Samantha

sets out to prove that Christmas is for everyone.

A joyous tale of giving and sharing from two award-

winning Australian creators.

CURRICULUM LINKS AND KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• English

• Health and Physical Education

• History (Year 3)

• General Capabilities – Personal and Social

Capability, Intercultural Understanding

APPROPRIATE AGES 2-7 Years

A Very Quacky Christmas

ISBN 9780733329623

RRP 24.99

Notes created by: Concetta Gotlieb

These notes may be reproduced free of charge for use and study within schools but they may not be

reproduced (either in whole or in part) and offered for commercial sale.

Page 2

CONTENTS

• Book Summary

• About the author

• About the Illustrator

• Reasons for studying this book

• Key curriculum areas

• Themes

• Classroom ideas and activities

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Frances Watts was born in Switzerland and grew up in Australia. Her bestselling picture books

include Goodnight Mice! (illustrated by Judy Watson), the winner of the 2012 Prime Minister's

Award for Children's Fiction; 2006 CBC Honour Book Kisses for Daddy (ill. David Legge); and

2008 Children's Book Council of Australia award-winner Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books (ill.

David Legge). Her young adult novel The Peony Lantern, set in nineteenth-century Japan, was

short listed for a NSW Premier’s Literary Award 2016.

ABOUT THE IILUSTRATOR

Over 35 years, Ann James has collaborated with many authors, illustrating picture books that almost always feature animals! In fact, her own pets are characters in The Midnight Gang; Dog In, Cat Out; The Way I Love You and Chester and Gil. Ann's playful approach to illustrating is evident in her choice of media and techniques. Some of her memorable picture-book characters are in Lucy Goosey; I'm a Dirty Dinosaur; I'm a Hungry Dinosaur; Bird and Bear and Bird and Bear and the Special Day. .

REASONS FOR STUDYING THIS BOOK

‘A Very Quacky Christmas’ tells us that Samantha is an inspirational character. Bringing a big

heart and determination to the table Samantha the duck will have students rethinking the

meaning of Christmas.

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KEY CURRICULUM AREAS

English – Year 1

• Identify the parts of a simple sentence that represent ‘What’s happening?’, ‘What state

is being described?’, ‘Who or what is involved?’ and the surrounding circumstances

(ACELA1451)

• Explore differences in words that represent people, places and things (nouns, including

pronouns), happenings and states (verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as

when, where and how (adverbs) (ACELA1452)

• Discuss how authors create characters using language and images

• Discuss features of plot, character and setting in different types of literature and

explore some features of characters in different texts (ACELT1584)

• Recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing, performance and digital forms of

communication (ACELT1586)

• Create short imaginative and informative texts that show emerging use of appropriate

text structure, sentence-level grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation and

appropriate multimodal elements, for example illustrations and diagrams (ACELY1661)

• Innovate on familiar texts by using similar characters, repetitive patterns or vocabulary

(ACELT1832)

• Make short presentations using some introduced text structures and language, for

example opening statements (ACELY1657)

• Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning about key events,

ideas and information in texts that they listen to, view and read by drawing on growing

knowledge of context, text structures and language features (ACELY1660)

History (Year 3 Outcome)

• Celebrations and commemorations in places around the world (for example, Chinese

New Year in countries of the Asia region, Bastille Day in France, Independence Day in

the USA), including those that are observed in Australia (for example, Christmas Day,

Diwali, Easter, Hanukkah, the Moon Festival and Ramadan)

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Health and Physical Education

• Identify and practise emotional responses that account for own and others’

feelings (ACPPS020)

• Recognise similarities and differences in individuals and groups, and explore how these

are celebrated and respected (ACPPS024)

General Capabilities

• Personal capability - understand relationships

• Intercultural understanding – recognising culture and developing respect, interacting

and empathising with others, reflecting on intercultural experiences and taking

responsibility

THEMES

Christmas

Samantha and Sebastian explore the idea of Christmas in different communities. The book

provides an excellent platform for exploring who can celebrate Christmas and why we celebrate

Christmas.

Big ideas

Explore taking big ideas to the next level just like Samantha. Christmas themes and project

based learning are a perfect match. By creating local, achievable projects students can learn to

work in teams to achieve a goal.

Maker movement and sustainability

Students will enjoy using the book as a Launchpad to explore making their own sustainable

Christmas presents. Inventing, creating and making presents for classmates, friends or family

allows plenty of scope to use this book for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and

Maths) activities, craft or any other kind of making and tinkering.

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CLASSROOM IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES

Activity Notes & Curriculum Links ICT Integration/Worksheet

Cover Story Discuss the cover text and illustrations. The

purpose of this discussion is to introduce the

author and illustrator, uncover prior knowledge

or create interest in the story.

Guiding Questions

• What do you think the book is about? What

can you tell from the cover?

• What are the ingredients of this book?

• What do you think the title means?

• Where is the book set? How do you know?

• Who are the main characters?

• How do you think the illustrations were

created?

2 IWB

Cover Story Brainstorm

Read and Retell

(ACELT1584)

Read the story with the students, stopping to

highlight interesting ideas and student

reflections.

Guiding Questions

• What do you think will happen next?

• Do you agree with Sebastian that

Christmas is not for animals?

• Would you exclude anyone from

Christmas? Why?

• What do you like about Christmas?

3 IWB/Printable

Read and Retell

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• Was there anything about the story you

didn’t really understand?

• Did the author leave anything up to your

imagination?

Have the students retell the story in their own

words.

Quacky Quiz

(ACELY1660)

Depending on the level students can answer a

quiz or use these questions for discussion.

4 IWB

Quacky Quiz

Wacky Words

(ACELA1778)

Get students thinking about the authors choice

of words.

Guiding Questions

• Did you learn any new words?

• Which words do you think describe the true

meaning of Christmas?

• Which words describe how we celebrate

Christmas?

Create a word wall with pictures of all the words

listed on the Word Wall slide. Depending on the

age and level students you may choose to use

only one or two lists.

5 IWB

Word Wall

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Sensible Sentences

(ACELA1451)

In this activity students will consider the structure of simple sentences. Select sentences from the book and deconstruct them to uncover the parts. Eg

All that day, and late into the night, Samantha and Sebastian wove the flowers into daisy chains. (Note that this sentence structure is woven into the story to help build tension within the story.)

‘Christmas is about sharing,’ said the donkey. I would be happy to share my cart with you.’

Guiding Questions

• What is happening?

• What state is being described?

• Who is involved?

• What else can we find out from this

sentence.

Students can reinforce this knowledge by adding

the appropriate parts to the sentences in the

worksheet.

6 IWB/Printable

Sensible Sentences

Writing Techniques

(ACELA1448)

Writers often repeat the same concepts

throughout the story, sometimes they even

repeat the same sentences. In this activity, you’ll

look more closely at the way the author has

structured the writing to make it interesting.

Guiding Questions

• Can you find examples of where the writer

has repeated a sentence?

7 IWB/Printable

Writing Techniques

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• Do you think this technique adds to your

enjoyment when reading the story?

• What other aspects of the writing do you

find interesting?

• Which parts of the story do you like to listen

to the most?

Students can also practice writing similar

sentences in preparation for the writing task.

Story Elements

(ACELT1582)

(ACELT1583)

Now we’ll look at the story. Using the graphic

organiser provided discuss the elements of the

story and share your opinion. You can also use

the postcard to get students discussing the big

ideas of the text.

Guiding Questions

• Who are the main characters in the story?

• Where do they live?

• What is the problem? Samantha wants to

get presents to all the animals in the world.

• What is the solution? Samantha asks all her

friends for help and they use their special

skills to make presents and deliver them

around the world.

• Have you ever wanted to do something that

other people said was impossible? What do

you think that would be like?

• Do you think the story has a good message

about Christmas?

• Would you recommend this story to others?

8 IWB/Printable

Story Elements

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reproduced (either in whole or in part) and offered for commercial sale.

Page 9

Character Close-Up

(ACELT1581)

In this activity you’ll create an online profile for

Samantha duck. Write a list of words to

describe Samantha and then use these words to

write a description of her. Then draw a picture

of Samantha doing something she loves.

Guiding Questions

• Can you add to Samantha’s list of skills? E.g.

singing

• What can you tell about Samantha from the

images? Eg she is good at talking to big

groups of animals

• Do you think Samantha is inspirational?

Extension Activity

Have students create a mock online profile of

themselves. Students can consider their

personality, skills and interests. This would also

provide an opportunity to talk about cyber-

safety.

9 Printable

Samantha Profile

Create your own profile

template using Adobe

Spark or Canva.

https://www.canva.com/t

emplates/resumes/

https://spark.adobe.com/

Working Together

(ACPPS020)

(ACPPS024)

Books can help us look at situations and think

about how we would feel and how we would

respond to the situation. In this activity

students work in pairs or small groups to

interview Sebastian and find out more about

how he felt about working on the project.

Guiding Questions

• Do you think Samantha could have achieved

her vision on her own?

• How did Sebastian feel about the project?

10 Print & Laminate (1

between 2)

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• IsSebastian an important part of the story?

• Have you ever had to work with others to

get something done? How did you feel?

What positive emotion did you have? What

negative emotions did you have?

‘A Very

____________

Christmas’ Project

(ACELT1586)

(ACELY1661)

(ACELT1832)

Using Samantha as inspiration students will

dream big and develop their own Christmas

Project. As a class prepare a big surprise for a

group you care about. You don’t have to know

the group, it could be the school, a nursing

home, your family or even someone in a

different country.

Guiding Questions

• Did Samantha and Sebastian spend lots of

money to buy the Christmas presents?

• What skills do you have that you could use

to make Christmas presents for the whole

school?

• Can you use those skills to create your own

big Christmas project idea?

Easy ideas for making presents for the whole school:

• Watercolour bookmarks – see activity

• Finger knitting heart ornament

• Baking Christmas cupcakes

• Use any of the Harper Collins Christmas craft books to choose a craft project to work on (these are listed at the end of the lesson plan)

11 IWB

‘A VERY ____ CHRISTMAS’

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Students can continue making these in class or at home until you have enough.

Watercolour

Painting

(ACELA1453)

Discuss how the illustrations add to the world of

the story.

Guiding Questions

• How do the images add to the story?

• Which images tell you more about the

characters than is written in the story? Eg

When Samantha is talking to a group of

sheep she looks very confident in her idea.

• Why do you think the illustrator choose to

work with watercolour?

• How does an artist create watercolours?

• Can you create your own watercolour

paints?

• Do the black outlines add to the images?

Create your own watercolour paints using the

video from Skill Share. Click on this link to learn

how to create your paints.

Youtube Skill Share

Watercolour

Bookmarks

Print the bookmark template onto cardboard

and have students use watercolour paints to

colour the dots or create a wash or marble

effect on the book. Gift these bookmarks to

another class or even the whole school as part

of your project.

12 Printable

Bookmark template

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Page 12

Creative Writing

(ACELA1448)

Using the story structure recreate your own ‘A VERY _______ CHRISTMAS’ Depending on the level students may complete a joint construction and then move to an individual narrative.

Using the vocabulary, writing techniques and

plot structure from the story create a narrative

text modelled on the story.

Students could use their class project as a basis

for the story. Start by getting the students to

think about any problems they had to overcome

in creating their big idea/project.

Students could use Powerpoint or Storybird to

turn their story into a picture book. Students

can create illustrations using watercolours, take

pictures and edit them in photoshop or use a

completely different technique to create a visual

world.

Storybird

https://storybird.com/

Thank you On Christmas morning, animals all over the

world woke up to find a special surprise.

It’s nice to appreciate the gifts we are given. In

the captions write thank you in as many

languages as you can.

Guiding Questions

• Is it far for Samantha and Sebastian to

deliver presents all around the world?

• Do you think the animals would feel thankful

for the gifts?

13 IWB/Printable

Thank you

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Page 13

Optional Activity:

Christmas

Anthropomorphism

(ACELT1590)

A Very Quacky Christmas is an entertaining and

endearing book, one of the techniques Francis

uses to help build the story world is

anthropomorphism.

Guiding questions

• What is anthropomorphism?

• What human characteristics to the animals

have?

• Do turtles and ducks usually have close

relationships?

Watch this William Wegman video for more

anthropomorphic Christmas fun.

Use photoshop to create anthropomorphic

Christmas scenes of your own.

Author Comparison

– Jackie French

(ACELT1583)

Many authors like to use animals in their

Christmas stories. Read other stories that are

similar to ‘A Very Quacky Christmas’ and

compare the writing techniques, plot lines and

characters.

Click here to find out more about how

Wombats celebrate Christmas.

Guiding Questions

• Which Christmas stories did you enjoy the

most?

• What writing strategies would you like to try

in your own writing?

• How could you show your appreciate of the

stories you like?

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Extension: Choose one of your favourite stories

of animals celebrating Christmas. Can you create

a fun craft activity, role play or worksheet for

someone else to complete when they have

finished reading the story?

Bonus Idea As an additional digital text creation activity

students can work individually or in groups to

create a 20 second motivational YouTube or

PowerPoint. Discuss the structure of ‘tips’ e.g.

• Work with friends

• Never give up… etc

Insert a screenshot for 10 tips slide into the start

of your video or slideshow. Students can then

consider how they will display their tips digitally

Guiding Questions

• What do you think motivated Samantha to

keep going with her idea?

• How did Samantha get others to help her?

15 Youtube/Powerpoint

Title Page

10 Tips From Samatha

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Page 15

RELA T ED B OO KS

http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780060841300/craftivity-40-projects-for-the-diy-

lifestyle/#sm.0010gz2di6syedq11v82h4in92aga

http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781409539711/christmas-activity-

book/#sm.0010gz2di6syedq11v82h4in92aga

http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781409563426/100-christmas-things-to-make-and-

do/#sm.0010gz2di6syedq11v82h4in92aga

PREPARED BY

Information about the author of the notes

Concetta Gotlieb is a qualified primary teacher. Concetta is passionate about working with

teachers and students to design, develop and deliver digital learning experiences to solve

problems and create connections. Her teaching and learning design focusses on students as

creators and producers.